Guilty
by TheTranquilTornado
Summary: When Amy Cahill wakes up restless in the night, she goes to the beach to have a long think about her life and what she's done. Really long one-shot. Rated T to be safe. Dramatic tragedy. Warning: Very depressing. Some details may not make sense but you'll enjoy this story more if you try not to put too much logic into it. Enjoy! Sequel may be coming up but don't get your hopes up.


_**OMG! I'm soooooooooo sorry! I've just been so busy, life is almost as chaotic as Hurricane Sandy! (my prayers and good wished go out to victims of Sandy :C) So I've barely ha an time to write and I know this is really lame excuse so I'm so sorry guys! I'm doing my best to update as often as possible but we're starting our GCSEs here so... :S As a special 'Sorry!' gift, I've written an extra-long one shot (although maybe it should be a multi chap) just for you guys!**_

_**Please enjoy, and don't forget to review review, review!**_

**~TheTranquilTornado**

* * *

Amy Cahill's eyes fluttered open. The dark blue ceiling loomed above her ominously, and she could see the ceiling lamp shaking. The moonlight filtered in through the gap in the blinds. The gap that had been there since 2nd grade. She sighed, blinking slowly. Her room was so old, yet so little memory occupied it. The walls were blank, like a newly whitewashed fence. The door was freshly painted. All her books had been donated by her Aunt Beatrice. The only one left was _The Secret Garden_, a special gift from her mother. Hope. That was what she needed right now.

Her feet slipped soundlessly into her jade green Crocs. She fingered her jade medallion before tiptoeing out of the room.

The corridor was silent. She couldn't even hear her brother snoring. The less he knew, the better. He couldn't know what had happened. He couldn't.

The sound of _Bring Me to Life_ by Evanescence pulsed softly through the air as she passed Nellie's room. She smiled, thinking of her 'sister's' amazing taste in music. Headphones were jammed as tight as a corset into her ear. Amy wondered how she had managed to avoid hearing damage all these years.

Her legs carried her in a trance-like fashion towards the beach. The water lapped at the sand, a puppy having a midnight feast, just like she'd had once with her family on her birthday. The smell of melting wax and blueberry muffins still lingered in her mind. Her father had given her the very first classic novel she'd ever read- _The Secret Garden_. Amy felt happy thinking of the treasured book lying on her shelf. She wouldn't want it anywhere else. Not even in the world's most secure and valuable library. It was too special.

The Crocs squelched as they trod across the moist sand. She could feel the small soft grains of sand from their little private beach slip sneakily through her shoes. Amy sat on Mermaid's Rock, her feet tucked up behind her as if she were back at Grace's mansion, reading a book.

Her auburn locks of hair billowed out gracefully behind her pale, moonlit face. Her hands started to feel cold in the chilly night air, but she didn't mind. She'd gotten used to these things during the clue hunt.

Clue Hunt. Two words that brought back a surge of painful, funny, happy and sand memories, all at the same time. She remembered with pin-sharp detail, every moment. From opening the envelope at the funeral to escaping the gauntlet, everything had been branded onto her brain, the memories etched on the skull. Her mind would make a very interesting book. There was so much from the Clue Hunt, and others would laugh. Some may call her mental. But a Cahill will be sorry. Sorry for the innocent lives that were taken for the greedy pursuit of the Cahills. But her dad hadn't been a Cahill. He was a Vesper.

Now that Amy thought about it, she hardly knew anything about her father. He was a pianist. His favorite color was green. He preferred a cheap stay with his family than an expensive one by himself. And he loved them. All of them. But this wad only a thumbnail sketch. There was so much more to him that she would never know.

Amy sighed as she eased herself cautiously into the caressing hands of the sea. It held her, cuddled her, kissed her gently with its cold lips. It rocked back and forth, gently, gently. Her mother appeared to have taken the beautiful form of the sea, just to rock her when she most needed it. It tugged her closer, but she stayed in the same place, arms back, legs straight, head looking up at fathomless space, an opulent sky full of twinkling stars. She knew somewhere up there, Irina and Lester were watching. They were probably very disappointed in her. She'd done something so awful. She couldn't understand why. She hadn't realized, she didn't know. It just happened.

She skipped a silvery grey pebble that fitted coincidentally with the contours of her palm. The cloud-like cotton fabric of her PJs clung to her, soaked with seawater. She didn't care.

_SPLASH! _The stone hopped across the stormy waters and sank. Amy's eyes were riveted towards the ripple. The shape was unfortunately familiar.

It couldn't have been a coincidence.

It was Korea. Korea. Korea, Korea, Korea. The word struck fear and sadness into her heart like an arrow. She'd missed out on a lot because of Korea. One time, her school had organized a trip to see a prestigious library opening and get to be the first people inside. but she couldn't have gone there. Not after the clue hunt. Not ever.

She'd been so stupid with Ian. She'd let her heart get in the way. She'd completely forgotten everything books had taught her, everything about people getting fooled and played with. Amy felt a choked sob escaping from her throat, as she thought of Ian. Ian and Natalie, the little Lucians. the stealthiest, sneakiest and most political of them all. They were masters of manipulation, experts of extraction, and specialists in stealth. Amy knew she shouldn't blame herself, that someone like Sinead, even, could have fallen for him. She clenched her fists at the memory, fighting back torrents of tears. She wished Ian were here right now, so she could get things straight- once and for all.

Her fingers found themselves gliding absent-mindedly across the shimmery jade of Grace's medallion, a last memoir from her beloved grandmother. Amy would have given anything to even see Grace again, if only for a second. her face had given her hope over the long and tragic nine years prior to the fire.

The fire. She could remember the full moon beaming with glee at her on that ill-fated night, how the flames had licked up the house like a stray dog licks up food. She could see now, the watering jade eyes of her brother as he wondered where his mother was, and why no-one was giving him his teddy bear. Where had Dan's teddy gone? Amy's mind reeled painfully as she remembered how she could hear Dan's sobs at night, as he dreamed of people long gone.

The sixteen year old felt she could feel the disappointment radiating from the medallion into her heart, growing stronger, clutching it forcefully. Amy sunk lower into the cold water, hoping to simply hide from her mistakes. The heat was slowly leaving her near numb fingers. Somehow, she managed to dredge up memories of her least favorite subject- physics. She thought of Miss Clark, her grumpy old teacher who'd taught them about how heat was transferred from hottest to coldest. She was slowly growing colder. Amy thought of each particle, carrying heat to the other particles. Each particle in the air was so small and insignificant, just like Amy was small and insignificant when you thought about how many people there were on earth. But who knew such an unimportant person could cause so much trouble?

She couldn't hold it in. There is a limit to how much guilt one can take. She scribbled rapidly in the sand, writing her error over and over again. The more you say something, the less meaning it has, according to Nellie. So she yelled. She yelled it all out, sometimes incoherently. But she didn't care. She lay back in the sea, running her fingers anxiously through the pebbles lining the sea floor. Why had she done it? She'd known she shouldn't, yet she had. Stupid mistakes.

Amy allowed herself a tentative and brief smile as she thought back o the clue hunt again. She'd realized who she really was back then; she'd been happy, despite nearly getting killed the whole time. She'd made friends, enemies, and discoveries. She'd lost so much, yet gained so much. She'd learned more than one might learn in a lifetime over those two months globetrotting around the world on a single dangerous quest.

Yet it was this same quest that brought her so much sorrow now, not just because of what she'd done.

But because of Dan. While Amy had made so much self discovery, Dan had turned into a darker, older person. He hadn't been as obsessed with ninjas. He didn't crack as many jokes when she told him off. And most of all, he never socialized with anyone. Amy was steadily growing more worried. She couldn't let this Dan stay like this. She knew she had to do something. But Dan was beginning to close her out too.

* * *

Dan woke with a start. He could sense something was not right. When he was younger, he would have gone to Amy. But he was too old. He knew what betrayal was like. All thanks to the clue hunt. She'd changed because of it as well. She wasn't the same. And neither was he. But a sister was a sister. Dan decided to check on her, ever since it became his mission to make sure the clue hunt never hurt them again. Even if it meant creating the serum to kill the enemy.

A few minutes later, Dan was standing cautiously outside Amy's room, debating whether he should go in or not. His sister liked her privacy and respected everyone's in fact. But he could sense something was terribly wrong.

The door was blasted open in the blink of an eye, its hinges creaking angrily. But there were bigger problems. The bed was empty.

* * *

Tension seemed to fill the air around Amy. She couldn't quite pinpoint what was wrong, but she knew that soothing- or someone- was coming. Amy slipped into the water as if it were the comforting covers of a warm bed. She liked how it seemed to invite her into a cozy haven, a quiet and isolated retreat. She could nearly see her mother's hands stroking her in the water. She closed her eyes and laid her head back on the sand.

* * *

Dan stomped frantically throughout the house. His sister was nowhere to be found. He had looked in all hundred rooms of their mansion, yet all he found were useless items like bottles and glasses. Amy hadn't even left a trace behind. At least Dan would have been able to track her. He remembered the GPS trackers inside their bracelets. He beeped it as fast as he could, hoping to get a response. Perhaps Amy had been kidnapped!

* * *

A soft beeping noise echoed in the water, but it was losing its volume. The bracelet was slowly unraveling from Amy's slender wrist, slithering into the black depths of the ocean. Amy opened her eyes and looked at the stars. She realized Irina was up there. She realized this had been the last thing Irina had seen before she had died. She wished she knew which one Irina was, so she could apologize for everything- even the Kabras. If Irina would come back then what she had done wouldn't be such a big deal.

She spotted a cluster of four stars, and immediately understood. The two bright ones that were nearly touching were her parents, still smiling brightly. The large one just underneath them was Irina, and the smaller one underneath her was Lester. But they were only four of the clue hunt's victims. It dawned on her that they were thousands of stars up there, right now, who had once been Cahills. She knew one day she would join them, an isolated star where no one would ver care about her. All because of what she'd done.

She still couldn't understand why she'd done it. Curiosity? Anger? Revenge? The questions befuddled her mind more than any puzzle on the clue hunt had. All she wished for right now was the ability to research her feelings. If she could just look at her mind like a book she would be so much more comfortable with herself right now.

* * *

Frantic calculations were being evaluated in Dan's brain. He was trying to work out how far Amy might have gone if she had left at different times. Yet all the numbers were sliding and shifting around in his panicky mind, not the way he knew math should work. He buried his head into the table and looked up wearily at the window. Outside was a young girl lying in the water, hands drifting in the sand and sea.

Amy!

* * *

She was curling up as if she were in bed, her eyelids drooping, her head falling back in the sand. For a moment, she felt peaceful, secure, calm. Her mother seemed to encompass the whole beach, to hold her in, never wanting to lose her again. Amy didn't want to leave either. She thought that everything would be alright. It would, wouldn't it?

And so, slowly she slipped into the watery, soft embrace of her mother, into the embrace of the wide, wide sea.

* * *

"AMY! AMY!" Dan yelled desperately. No reply seemed to come. Amy must have fallen asleep. He ran as fast as his legs would allow. He knew he had to protect his sister. She as being utterly stupid. No matter what, she was all he had left and he need her, as much as he hated to admit it.

The closer her got, the more visible her scribbles on the beach were. Running forward, he saw what she wrote.

_I made the serum._

No, thought Dan. No, no, no! Amy would kill herself if she did that.

Hang on. _Kill herself?_

It dawned on him, slowly, tauntingly, leaving him shocked, flabbergasted, dumbfounded, and absolutely terrified. Amy might commit suicide. Maybe even by accident. Perhaps her guilty subconscious would make her!

He looked across at the sea, and saw a floating figure on the stormy waters.

"AMY! Amy, I'm coming! Hang on!" Dan waded out into the gloomy, open waters, fighting against the current. He thrust his arms out, hoping to grab onto her arm, her leg, her shirt, something! AS his hand was an inch away from her fingers, Amy looked at him, in a trancelike fashion. She held his gaze with her twinkling jade eyes, and smiled a gentle, warm smile. Then she pushed him away as a sweeping current pulled her out to sea, and within seconds, she had disappeared.

"Amy? No, Amy! Amy, come back! Amy. Please! Amy. Amy..."

* * *

_**The end! Did ya see that coming? I thought this was quite good, but it's SO sad. I must have been inspired by something awful. This was also quite an experimentation with... stuff. So yeah! Please review, I'd really love to know what you think of this! Thanks for reading this extremely long (and, probably, in some places drabbly) story! Anyone who reads this entire thing is truly awesome. Thank you!**_

**~TripleT (get it? There are triple Ts in 'TheTranquilTornado'? :D and it also spells 'triplet')**


End file.
